Tax on Beer!

As a Canadian, there are many things that make us stand out: hosers, Tim Bits, Tim Hortons, Hockey, Hockey fights, Toques, snobbery to Americans, etc. But the one thing that seems somewhat "sacreligious" is our national drink, aka beer. Last night I got to participate in a focus group (and get paid $60 for my opinion!!) and it was done by Brewers of Canada. They were trying to find out what ads might be good to bring to light the fact that Canadains pay 52% tax on their beer!

Yup. You heard me.

52-****in'-percent!

Now, I'm not stupid. Governments cost money (all those services they do for us... while we wait in line for 3 hours) and beer is a "sin" and "luxury" (although for some it's a way of life) but I have to admit I was rather shocked.

And if you think that we're around par to the rest of the world in this regard, take a look at this. You might be rather surprised.

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52-****in'-percent!

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dam...I'm poor as it is! lol Do you guys have Food stamps for beer....BEER STAMPS? jk. I'm guessing there isn't alot of drunks up your way?

Oh.. people drink. They just don't know that the case of 2-4 they buy is 52% tax. :(

The US shows at 19%, but that must be an average. I know Washinton state is higher than that, but I am unsure exactly what it is. Every state is different. Nevada is far cheaper than here, I do know that.

I guess it all depends on how cheap/expensive your beer is to begin with... on that list, it shows Belgium as having 31% Vs. 19% for the US. All I know is that beer is a LOT cheaper in Belgium, even with that bigger tax. I'm pretty sure even Budweiser is cheaper in Belgium than it is in the US (they wouldn't be able to sell it if it weren't :D ).

ah ah ah...

its funny to see you to complain about taxes. if you think that is unfair, never, ever, think about live here.

52%? here is considered a medium tax.

examples:

fuel (gas.) 70% tax

food in general 40%

beer, cigarrete 90%

car - 60%

wellcome to the jungle

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The US shows at 19%, but that must be an average.

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There's a reason..... The crap you Americans call "beer" isn't.... It's gnat's piss.... You are being taxed under false pretences....

Ms. M: You got your Canadian love of beer from the Brits... Which came out of Europe.... Glad to see you still appreciate something we gave you.... ;)

To all you Americans who _think_ you drink beer......

You don't have the "King of Beers"... It barely, and I mean _barely_, reaches the standards required for the worst beer. Coors... Made with "Rocky Mountain water" is shipped in concentrate and filled up at the destination with the local, often polluted, water..... "Less filling, more taste", or whatever that ad is.... Less filling because it's water.... More taste than.... What????

Americans kid themselves about beer..... Even the imports are watered down to a max of 5% by content.... WTF is that? Get a yank, (or a Canadian), in a nice northern English pub for a night and wave goodbye to them at 8:00pm after their third beer.....

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Ms. M: You got your Canadian love of beer from the Brits... Which came out of Europe.... Glad to see you still appreciate something we gave you....

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Actually, truth be told, I'm Acadian and definately have both families coming from France in the 1600s. ;)

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Get a yank, (or a Canadian), in a nice northern English pub for a night and wave goodbye to them at 8:00pm after their third beer.....

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Oh.. I don't know about that for Canadians. Guiness is rather popular here. ;)

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Originally posted here by Tiger Shark
You are being taxed under false pretences....

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:rofl:

I'm not a beer drinker anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me. I'm curious though, does anyone know if the taxes on liquor are similar? Or is it a totally different ballgame?

/me moves to Canada and cheap beer/

:D

Ms. M:

There's a few that will tell you that Guinness is a bit weak..... Really.... Theakston's is considered one of the better "mass manufactured" beers and IIRC beats real Guinness by a couple of percent ABV. Then there's the true "beer nuts"... CAMRA, (Campaign for Real Ale), IIRC they are drinking 10%+ABV....

Course... Sitting here in sunny Detroit.... I'm drinking Labatts... I prefer the lighter beers.... My father calls them "Maiden's Water".... <LOL>

Hrmm.. I'll have to look for Theakston's. Don't know if I've ever seen it in some of the pubs I've been into.

And is the Labatt's your drinking from Canada or America? I thought that they "Americanized" it went they sent it down.

I personally prefer the micro-brewery type beers up here or stuff like Guiness. :)

Ms. M: See... I've never really been keen on the "Bitters" as we call them or the Stouts etc. I always preferred the "Lagers".... Yeah.... The USA can't even move Canadian beer across the border without throwing some water in it to make sure it doesn't offend someone....

As a country it has some advantages..... If you can live with crappy beer.... ;)

Talking about heavy beers... the strongest commercialized Belgian beer is called Bush Beer (12%)... LOL.

And in the mean time, Belgian InBev (the former Interbrew) is going stronger than ever: they're already the biggest brewer in the world (they own Labatt, Tiger :p ) and they've set their sights on the US where Stella Artois (Belgian), and Beck's (German) are going to be heavily promoted. I've noticed that Beck's is sold at Wallmart and it's only like a buck more expensive than Bud...
Which reminds me that I should be getting some for the debate tonight :D

I dunno..... Isn't there something sad about the fact that you can get the best beer available in a Walmart..... :rolleyes:

American beer is stale, and so is the assault on it... :D

For instance there are 2 breweries in this town and a host of others.... we are learning from the masters. But we are guilty and someone needs to be shot, of watering down and fudging up the imports we bring in. Newcastle Brown Ale (Newkie Brown) tasts like **** here. Thanks god Guiness holds some of it's pleasing flavor. Not like a nice gravity fed pint from a country pub but eh... I am happy.

Oh and the Great American Beer Festival is coming up! Hop in the car... Cheers.

http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm

Oh as for the liquor tax.... I was at a single malt distillery outside of Edinburg once.... the bloke told me it cost 1 pound to make the bottle. The Queen taxed it up to 14 pounds! Then add on US tax and etc you can see why a bottle cost 80 bucks here.

\\EDIT

Stella is starting to make and appearance here. I used to have to drive to get it but now it's at most the local shops. :D Might make good debate beer!

I'm dam glad you hid your post MsM, i would hate to think you responsible for a hike in the price of bear over here, can you get rid of the link you posted , just in case,lol

The thing with bear and tax though AFAIK, is it's not the drink that is taxed, it's the alchole in the drink that is taxed...............at least here that is the case.

The actual price you pay is down to the seller. If you take a typicle example, Steller is one of the most expensive drinks on the market here £2.80 per pint (in my area) on the other hand a real ale like Summer Lightning is £0.40 cheaper and is yet 2% abv stronger.

[bad-mood]
I hope everything goes up, I hope we all end up ****ing bankrupt drinking beer and getting drunk **** all this. I'm tired of all these damn prices going up
[/bad-mood]

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Originally posted here by Tiger Shark
There's a reason..... The crap you Americans call "beer" isn't.... It's gnat's piss.... You are being taxed under false pretences....

To all you Americans who _think_ you drink beer......

You don't have the "King of Beers"... It barely, and I mean _barely_, reaches the standards required for the worst beer. Coors... Made with "Rocky Mountain water" is shipped in concentrate and filled up at the destination with the local, often polluted, water..... "Less filling, more taste", or whatever that ad is.... Less filling because it's water.... More taste than.... What????

Americans kid themselves about beer..... Even the imports are watered down to a max of 5% by content.... WTF is that? Get a yank, (or a Canadian), in a nice northern English pub for a night and wave goodbye to them at 8:00pm after their third beer.....

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Yeah, let me be the first or second American in this thread to tergiversate these "beer" franchises.
These companies aren't even ashamed to say that our grandfathers "brewmasters" immigrated from Europe. I think they were deported for making **** beer, and they ended up here?

Oh, so now I understand about the American prohibition days, they were trying to destroy all that gnat piss.

BTW: I'd kick your ass at darts in a Scottish tavern any ole' day of the week T-Shark, drinking your ale! ;)

Who finds this offensive? "In England Budweiser Regional Final" You guys are true allies.
Unicorn Darts

*burb*